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Tales of the Week

My past week reads like Dickens.

It was the week of endings, it was the week of reckoning.
It was the loss of sound and the loss of someone dear.
It was a silence that screamed, and a goodbye that echoed.
It was the numbness of disbelief and the ache of memory.

It was a week where I still heard, but no longer understood.
It was a week where I spoke, but half my world no longer spoke back.
It was the unmaking of words — where recognition became a stranger,
and the simple gift of language disappeared behind a closed door.

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Michael Steele stated, “Donald Trump is the Golden Calf; he is the thing that they come and bow before. And that they offer up their future political support.” After reading the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ nothing could be truer. The President said there would be no cuts to Medicaid. However, the House Republicans passed plans to cut roughly $716 billion from Medicaid, and program cuts will hit close to home for many residents, even as some welcome the prospect of tighter rules and less government spending. Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates more than 10 million people will likely lose Medicaid and CHIP insurance under the House Republican plan.

Most Americans have a connection to Medicaid. In 2024, Medicaid surged to 78 million recipients. In rural areas, where the share of people with disabilities is higher, residents have lower incomes, and communities are reliant on industries with skimpier health benefits. Overall, about two-thirds (65%) of the public say that someone close to them has received help from Medicaid at some point, including over half (53%) who say either the program has covered them themselves or a member of their family and an additional 13% who say a close friend has been covered. Substantial shares of Democrats (52%), independents (57%), and Republicans (44%) report that Medicaid has covered them or a family member. Nearly all adults (97%) say Medicaid is at least somewhat important for people in their local community, including about three in four (73%) who say it is “very important.”

Ignoring storm clouds on the horizon, voters support lawmakers who cut Medicaid. However, voters neglected a couple of details.

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People ask, “If Trump is so bad, why do Trump supporters still like him?”

“Simple,” I replied. “The pain hasn’t arrived yet.”

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100 Days! F***’n 100 Days

It’s 1:00 AM. Leaning into the recliner’s headrest and staring through the window onto Lake Michigan, I note the moonlight glistening over whitewashed tips of gentle waves lapping across the shore. Just as I performed several times before, my thoughts slipped whispered, “I expected something.” I expected something because I was told ’a new America’ had once again arrived. Shangri-La had arrived. However, in the days since the inauguration, God sent no angels, no great trumpet heralded, and the elect did not gather from all over the world. The Lord hasn’t descended, people did not rise, and Jesus caught no one in the clouds. Instead, the new America bled supremacy, falsehood as truth, and armed in hate.

“A dizzying 100 days,” the Jewish Journal headlined. The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos just released a poll showing Trump’s approval rating at 39 percent—down six percentage points from February. CNN marks his approval rating at 41 percent—a seven-point drop since February. Not since the first 100 days of the Eisenhower administration have approval numbers been this anemic at this early stage of a presidency, says CNN. Meanwhile, DOGE (or the current administration eliminated approximately 120,000 federal jobs. 120,001 if you include Musk’s job. That’s 1,200 jobs a day.

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Approximately nine days into Trump’s second term, most are convinced that God neither walks with him and neither does Christ (my opinion). Or maybe God does walk with Trump, but only in some bizarre alternate universe. It’s shocking to remember Trump eight years prior. Christ healed the sick and Trump stated he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and get away with it. Christ mocked the arrogant and Trump mocked John McCain. Christ heal disabilities and Trump the disabled (a disabled reporter). Christ was an immigrant, but the undocumented immigrant were likely “rapists.” Christ declared the truth will set you free. Trump has often twisted the truth, lied, and attacked those who would call out his falsehoods.

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Breaking News: CNN’s ticker blared, “US military ordering thousands more troops to southern border.” Unnamed officials confirmed that thousands of additional active-duty troops are being deployed to the southern US border with Mexico. The stated purpose: to support Homeland Security and Border Patrol operations. Speculation is swirling about whether this move ties into Texas’ construction of an 80-acre facility outside Eagle Pass, rumored to be a deportation or detention camp. Official confirmation on the facility’s purpose remains elusive.

In an NPR interview, Eagle Pass resident Jessie Fuentes criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott for creating what she called his own immigration force and court system. “Why are we allowing this to happen? Why are we allowing our governor to become a dictator and authoritarian in enforcing immigration policy?” Fuentes asked.

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It was only a matter of time: The President issued a sweeping wave of commutations and a blanket pardon that absolved all the January 6 rioters, effectively undoing what many considered the most extensive criminal investigation in U.S. history. Defending his decision, Trump claimed the pardons were warranted, arguing that individuals committing violent crimes in other cities often go unpunished. He stated that he showed compassion to those whom authorities had improperly treated, insisting, “Their lives were destroyed.”

But what of the lives lost?

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NY Times Guest Opinion writer Robert Rubin stated, “If You’re Worried About the Future of Our Country, Do Something About It.” Civic engagement in issues beyond the immediate scope of one’s professional and personal life for the greater good is more critical than ever. Further, Rubin noted that widespread engagement is especially needed when democracies like America face threats from autocracies abroad and intense social and political strain at home.

Sipping my coffee for a few minutes and gazing toward the horizon, “Bullshit. Not happening: been there, done that.”

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Not Medically Necessary

I separated the curtains from my bed. From the 46th floor, I watched the rain drizzle down the window, winced, and rolled back into one of several comfortable positions. My body hurts. I spiritually hurt. I am mentally hurt. No longer able to pray kneeling, I offered today’s queloque from a fetal position. “God, will I die before my health insurance cancels me?”

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Trump won a second term in the White House thanks, in part, to a spike in support across several demographic groups, including a record-breaking jump among Latino voters. An NBC News exit poll of voters in 10 states — including Arizona, Florida and Texas showed Trump captured 55% of the Latino male vote. It’s the first time the demographic has sided with a Republican in a presidential election. This happened despite Trump surrogates uttering anti-Latino jokes at rallies and despite Trump’s promises to not only deport undocumented immigrants but also to revoke birthright citizenship — a privilege more than a few rancho libertarians were blessed with. Maybe these voters slid toward machismo, misogyny, or aspirational whiteness. Maybe it’s stupidity.

November 5th is the day I stopped believing in America and my fellow citizens. Plain and simple. Period.

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